Association statement on Anaesthesia Associate Scope of Practice 2024
19 December 2024
The Royal College of Anaesthetists has published the interim Anaesthesia Associate Scope of Practice 2024 and the Association of Anaesthetists has endorsed this document.
The Association was represented on both the Clinical Reference Group and the Core Writing Group. The document describes clear phases of practice for anaesthesia associates (AAs) from the time of qualification and clearly defines the levels of supervision expected. The scope balances the diverse needs of all parties: patients, service providers, supervisors, AAs, other learners, and sub-specialty groups. Opinions were listened to; compromises have been necessary on all sides.
This document must be seen as a starting point. As with all scopes, it will be responsive and will be reviewed in the light of prospectively gathered evidence. Its content will also need to be revised following completion of the independent review led by Professor Gillian Leng that will report next year.
Publishing this scope now is vital. To do otherwise would leave a vacuum to be filled with multiple alternate scopes, exacerbating the current confusion or worse still encouraging ‘cherry-picking’ of scopes.
This document has not emerged in perfect circumstances. First the AA role was created, then regulated, then consulted upon. In an ideal world, this would have been done in the reverse sequence, with the scope of practice written at the beginning, not the end. Despite this, we believe that this scope of practice, as published, gives the best launch pad for safe anaesthesia associate practice in the future and we recommend that it should be implemented by all departments who train and employ AAs in the UK.
Thank you to everyone who has responded to our consultation. If you would like to share any further thoughts on this document, please log in to our Community member forum where I will be available to answer your questions.
Dr Tim Meek
President
Association of Anaesthetists